One of my most favourite things about knitting is that you can repurpose yarn from old garments and turn them into something completely different! The yarn I have used in this top has a long and lovely story. In 2001 I lived in Oslo and worked as a sales assistant in a large haberdashery. One of the perks of working in this store was discounts on yarn and fabrics and I purchased a few lovely things while I worked there. One of the treasures I bought was a pack of black alpaca yarn from a Norwegian label called Du Store Alpakka. The only issue was I had never really knitted anything for myself yet. My only attempt at this point was a jumper I started when I was 14 which my mum ended up finishing for me!
In 2022 I moved to the UK and moved my stash of yarn with me. I started studying fashion design and my love for knitting started to evolve. I came across a book of vintage knitting patterns and fell in love with a plain cardigan. This ended up being my very first knitted garment for myself. I wore it lots. So much in fact that over the years the edges wore thin and eventually I stopped wearing it as it just didn’t look very nice anymore.
Last year I decided I needed to do something about it and unraveled the cardigan. There was actually quite a lot of useful yarn left and I pondered what to do with it.
For Christmas this year I finished my gift knitting with a bit of time to spare so I decided to knit myself a gift too! I landed on a Bjelle Top to wear for Christmas Eve and I got started. I made good and steady progress but with a sleeve still left to knit when Christmas Eve came round I had to admit defeat and changed the deadline for New Years Eve. This deadline I managed to keep and I wore it on New Years Eve with my bright orange Dries Van Noten skirt that I picked up on a 75% sale at Liberty many years ago. We were only having a stay at home party, the three of us making a three course meal together, but it still feel nice to dress up! The top was perfect and I am so pleased the yarn get to live on for a little longer.
If you would like to make your own Bjelle Top you can find the pattern here. The sleeves have an interesting construction creating the puff sleeve effect. The body is worked in two pieces with side seams and the neckline is picked up at the end and worked in the round.